Medicinal inhaler



Oct. 2, 1951 c. J. JESNIG MEDICINAL INHALER Filed March 22, 1949 J a a 1 i4 H 5 W O 2 \\\\\M& a a 5 Patented Oct. 2, 1951 MEDICINAL INHALER Charles J. J esnig, Newtown Square, Pa., assignor to Package Devices, Inc., Philadelphia, Pa., a corporation of Pennsylvania Application March 22, 1949, Serial No. 82,783

3 Claims. 1

The present invention relates to inhalers for medicinal powders such as penicillin and streptomycin.

A purpose of the invention is to permit dispensing of medicinal powder in an inhaler from a standard capsule which can be filled by a standard filling machine.

A further purpose is to assure rather complete removal of medicinal powder from a container by an inhaler, minimizing waste.

A further purpose is to secure a whirling action desirably accompanied by tumbling, shaking, tapping, spinning, bouncing, or flipping of the capsule to obtain rather complete distribution of medicinal powder in the air stream and minimize waste.

A further purpose is to reduce the weight and simplify the construction of inhalers for medicinal powders.

A further purpose is to obtain a uniform distribution of the powder in the inhaled air and avoid the inhaling of lumps.

A further purpose is to provide for employing capsules of different sizes in the same inhaler.

A further purpose is to assure that the capsule will return to the base of the inhaler and in some cases permit the capsule to act as a valve in the inhaler.

Further purposes appear in the specification and in the claims.

In the drawings I have chosen to illustrate one only of the numerous embodiments in which my invention may appear, selecting the form shown from the standpoints of convenience in illustration, satisfactory operation and clear demonstration of the principles involved.

Figure l is an axial section of an embodiment of the invention.

Figure 2 is a detached perspective of the components of the inhaler of Figure 1.

Figures 3 and 4 are fragmentary enlarged axial sections of the injection chamber, showing the operation of different containers.

Describing in illustration but not in limitation and referring to the drawings:

Medicinal powders such as dry penicillin, dry streptomycin and mixtures of the same in varying proportions have proved to be effective when injected in a stream of air for treatment of mucous membranes of the body, such as the throat, nose and sinus. The invention is applicable to these and other medicinal powders.

Eflorts have been made in the past to render such powders air-borne by vibration of a heavy member such as a ball in the vicinity of a special container in which the powder is placed. The filling of such special containers has proved to be expensive and requires special filling machinery.

In accordance with the present invention, the medicinal powder such as penicillin, streptomycin or mixtures of the same, or any other suitable medicinal powder, is preferably placed in a standard gelatine cup-like medicinal capsule half of the telescoping type, which can be filled by a standard filling machine. Any other light container of comparable size may be used, such as an aluminum capsule half or cup.

Most of the medicinal powders of the types which will be employed are hygroscopic, and therefore the closed capsules or other containers will preferably be kept in a bottle or other airtight container prior to use. The capsule is then a single use container to introduce the powder into the inhaler and perform additional functions as later explained.

The inhaler of the present invention is, designed to support the capsule or other container and also desirably to whirl, spin, tumble, shake, tap,, flip and bounce the container in such manner as 1 to cause the medicinal powder to become airborne, and to travel with the stream of air being; inhaled into the region of the throat, nose or,-

sinus.

with the interior of the nose and sinus. other nostril may be closed by the finger.

The inhaler comprises a hollow body 2| hav'-- ing at its lower portion an injection chamber 22,. at its upper portion a mixing chamber 23 and", between the two chambers a screen 24 suitably of wire or plastic mesh. Air is drawn into the injection chamber through an inlet 25. The air inlet is located at any suitable point, conveniently the bottom. The mixture of air and medicinal powder is taken into the nose or mouth through an outlet opening 26 suitably at the opposite end or top of the inhaler. For convenient socketing in the nostril or in the mouth, the upper end of the inhaler is of hemispherical form at 21.

The interior of the injection chamber includes a capsule recess 28 at the bottom. A capsule half or other container 30 rests at the bottom of the recess when the inhaler is inactive. In

base is flat, to permit resting on a table or the 7 like, and the top, except for the rim, is preferably flat. 7 i

The top 32 is preferably tubular,-:and;hasan enenlarged rim 35 which engages around the rim 33 on the base, and makes a i'rictional interlock. Any other type of interlock between the parts may be used.

The screen 24 is conveniently supported by a itzhimblezon sleeveet ;.which -;carries :the sscresnsflz .ma sesia. press. fi insiderth s top; 32 .v outwardly .at; tieatvth iower ndit engage the; insijdei ith m-. 53 on th will be desirable.

V; In operation; the: top; 32 is-removed, iromgrthe capsule; the-to o th capsu opened when the capsule is i fi prflgp. umcn ever end o e .to secure-.more c omplete ernpty pg [0 powder into the air'str'eam. y s lntsome cases, however, less desirably weaps,ule half or -other .cont a iner-; 3Ggmay w i ,shown 1in, Figure. 4;.whichis. longer .than the 1- j ection v chamber. minimum diameter. and .iwh'ich can plunge. and vibrate as,well as whirlxb notfiipeflop. Of course,.. -inbani-W se it tion chamberheightisgreater thamthe lengtlrigof V .the container.

After. the container isuinserted in the b ase, the top is secured on-to..the base. -The,inhaler ready for immediate, use. The outlet 26;. placed in the .nostriLor. mouth depend the-desired point of application, ,aindihe'lu hales vigorously. The .inhalershouldbe r, 1 from contact-with the nostril .or. .mouth ylhilethe .user .exhales, asothe-rwise;powder.may b wasted.

As soon. as the usenbeginsvigoronsli inhalinglithe rairstream entering.,.thfough thelinlet zfifca les t e co tai t r e nrt etham ewn willmo entarny s ri e ain the e i 'I thepreferrediormqbhe diamete theinjzectien .cbamb is ere tteoou hpto perm he-wri to turn completely over since the greatest anazrisztra 10 sule.

4 verse to its axis, to move or bounce up and down in the chamber, and in most cases to tumble, turn end-over-end or flip-flop, and to vibrate. This combination of motions which can be ob- 5 served by watching through the transparent wall of the injection chamber, causes the powder to be shaken out through the open end of the capsule andlikewise causes the air to ifiow through the opening .ridhnd. project powder from .the cap- At the same time suction is applied to the interior of the injection chamber, which removes powder jrom the capsule. The expenditure of thepowder is very rapid indeed under these con- ;fli iqns a few vigorous sniffs often being sufficient 31:5 ,to.causeihegreatbulk of the powder to become .-air.-"borne.and. toleave the inhaler.

figurefi showsthe capsule half or container 39 in process of flip-flopping or somersaulting, so

that iitlwill momentarily have its open end di- 20 rectecl and downwardly and at other times will assur ing 'tliatftltie po, compressecl'in the capsule, is well completely ai1*,-borne, be1for3e y it can, le aw er v In the design shown, the formation. adloining the inlet.-.opening.. 2i5 is preferably C l I I Ding to the bottomin tpere q s q i o lfi gfi, a

rYes. l O..-miX; Q air- ;o :Irdi oah powd .1 wit nan I: irrso, that, the iiiniformity .o'fjohe. distribus the-powder iutheiairil avins.by;theputletis mproved. 1;: i t' i lniyiew eoflrnyaimaentionand disclosure variailq l ckodifications to.-.meetiindividual; Wlhim n gparticularzneed;will1donbtlessibecomeaevident to others skilled in the art, to obtain all or part of the benefits of my invention without copying the structure shown, and I, therefore, claim all such insofar as they fall within the reasonable spirit and scope of my claims.

Having thus described my invention what I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent is:

1. An inhaler for medicinal powder, comprising a body having an injection outlet at the top, an air inlet, an injection chamber in the lower part of the body communicating with the inlet and outlet having a lower recess for receiving and positioning a light cup-like container, a screen across the interior of the body, a light cup-like container, having an opening to dispense a portion of its contents as it moves and containing medicinal powder in position to be moved by an air stream in the cavity, and walls formin a, mixing chamber above the screen adjoining the outlet.

2. An inhaler for medicinal powder, comprising a body having an injection chamber and an air inlet and outlet in communication therewith, and a light container in the chamber having an opening to dispense a. portion of its contents as it moves, movable in an air stream and having a maximum container dimension sumciently less than the width and less than the height of the container so that the container is free to turn over and over, whereby the container is free to tumble and discharge its content into the air stream.

3. An inhaler for medicinal powder comprising a body having a cavity therein and also having openings from the cavity to the exterior of the body at displaced points whereby a suction REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file of this patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 476,190 Dow May 31, 1892 2,470,296 Fields May 17, 1949 FOREIGN PATENTS Number Country Date 205,925 Germany Jan. 20, 1909 

